BLACKSBURG – Kicking off the 2020 New York Life ACC Tournament on Tuesday, the 11th-seeded Virginia Tech men's basketball team will face 14th-seeded North Carolina at 7 p.m. ET in Greensboro Coliseum.
The Hokies (16-15, 7-13 ACC) will go up against the Tar Heels (13-18, 6-14) for the second time this season and the third time in the ACC Tournament.
UNC leads the all-time series 68-15, but the Hokies have won two of the last three.
Last time these two faced off, Tech won 79-77 in a double-OT thriller at home. Tech and North Carolina have met twice in the ACC tourney, with Carolina being 2-0. But both contests (2008, '09) were one-possession games.
Tech coach Mike Young is 2-2 all-time against UNC and coach Roy Williams, earning the first W in 2017 at UNC, 79-75, when he was at Wofford, and then again this past January.
The matchup will be broadcast on ACC Network, with Wes Durham (play-by-play), Cory Alexander (analyst) and Katie George (sideline) on the call, while Jon Laaser (play-by-play) and Mike Burnop (analyst) will broadcast on Virginia Tech Sports Properties.
GAME INFORMATION
Tue. | 7 p.m. ET vs. North Carolina | Stats | Watch | Radio | Notes
The last time out, Tech, in its regular-season finale Saturday, came up short at Notre Dame (19-12, 10-10) by eight, 64-56. It didn't do itself any favors early on, getting down at halftime 28-17. But it shot 50 percent in the second frame to come back, but not all the way.
Owning the No. 5 ranking in the nation for assist-turnover ratio, Tech's average is 1.47, which is second in the ACC. In South Bend, it tallied 12 assists to nine TOs (+3).
SCOUTING NORTH CAROLINA
• In a Tobacco Road showdown, the Tar Heels are coming off a 13-point loss to No. 12/11 Duke (25-6, 15-5) this past Saturday by a score of 89-76. Act II saw Garrison Brooks (team-high 26 points, 13 rebounds) and Armando Bacot (13 points, 12 rebounds) tally double-doubles, but it was not enough as the Blue Devils' bench outscored UNC 32-10.
• Roy Williams enters his 17th season as the head coach in Chapel Hill, following his 15-year stint as the head coach at Kansas, where he racked up over 400 victories. At UNC, Williams has led his alma mater to three national championships, with the most recent in 2017.
• Carolina is paced by Brooks, who is averaging 26.8 points and 10.8 rebounds per game over his last five outings dating back to Feb. 22, and preseason ACC Freshman of the Year Cole Anthony, who is totaling 19.8 points and 4.8 assists a contest his last five games.
•. One of the better rebounding teams in the country, the Tar Heels rank sixth nationally in offensive rebounds per game with 13.6 and are ninth in rebound margin with averaging 7.7 more rebounds a game than their opponent. They average 41.9 rebounds a game, ranking first in the ACC and No. 2 in the country.
